Identifying and Meeting the Needs of Individuals With Dementia Who Live Alone

Submitted by KennethNgah on Mar 25, 2023
TitleIdentifying and Meeting the Needs of Individuals With Dementia Who Live Alone
Publication TypeReport
Year of Publication2015
AuthorsLong E, Gould E, Maslow K, Lepore M, Bercaw MPPLawren, Leopold J, Wiener JM
Pagination1-31
Date Published09/2015
InstitutionRTI International
Place PublishedNorth America
Other NumbersRTI Project Number 0212050.035.001.001.001
Abstract
A substantial portion of people with dementia live alone. Data analyzed for this report indicate that in 2011, 13 percent of people with dementia who were living in the community were living alone. People with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia commonly require some care or help to maintain a safe and healthy life because these conditions cause substantial and progressive functional impairments. People with dementia who live alone are potentially at risk for adverse events because of their cognitive impairment. Unfortunately, in some cases the needs of people living alone are unmet and are not identified until there is an emergency.
 
Like other older adults who live alone, many people with dementia prefer living alone to the other options available to them. However, people with dementia who live alone are at high risk for self-neglect, malnutrition, injury, medication errors, financial exploitation, unmet care needs, and nursing home placement. Managing personal needs and daily activities is a primary
challenge for people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias who live alone, particularly in the areas of looking after the home, accessing and preparing food, providing self-care, doing laundry, and managing medications. Among this population, dangerous self-medication errors have been found to occur in administering the medication, modifying the medication regimen,
and not following clinical advice about medication use.
 
Identifying individuals with dementia who live alone is a primary challenge to meeting their needs. This report highlights indications that a person with dementia living alone is not able to adequately manage his or her personal care needs and daily activities, such as frequent emergency medical visits, little or no food in the home, unkempt appearance, dirty clothes, and
weather-inappropriate clothing. Intervention strategies to serve this population also are addressed, including referral for pharmacist or nurse medication reconciliation, home-delivered meals, arranging for home care services, notifying the police and fire departments of the person’s condition and providing contact information.
 
Finally, this report describes several evidence-informed innovative practices that are implemented in a variety of locations to support people with Alzheimer’s or dementia to safely live alone. Example practices include friendly visitor, gatekeeper programs, home care services, and police programs. Gatekeeper programs recruit mail carriers, utility meter readers, ministers, pharmacists, and other individuals who interact with many people in the course of their daily work and train them to identify isolated older people who may need assistance and refer those people to a central agency. A home care services provider in the Washington, DC, area contracts with Adult Protective Services (APS), the Department of Veterans Affairs, and local government funding to provide services to individuals with dementia who live alone. In addition to describing these programs and providing guidance on a variety of resources for helping to meet the needs of individuals with dementia who live alone, this report also addresses the importance and challenge of supporting both the safety and the autonomy of this population.
URLhttps://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael-Lepore/publication/303934162_Identifying_and_Meeting_the_Needs_of_Individuals_With_Dementia_Who_Live_Alone/links/575ee0e008ae9a9c955f8d00/Identifying-and-Meeting-the-Needs-of-Individuals-With-Dementia-Who-Live-
Country: 
USA
Method: 
Quantitative/Qualitative
Design: 
PLACI